Seven people have been arrested in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti over suspected links to a rebel group, a rights groups said Friday. The men are accused of links to the rebel Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD), an opposition group of the Afar people. "These people have no right to visit their families or a lawyer, let alone a doctor.. they have been systematically tortured since their arrest," said Omar Ali Ewado, from the Djiboutian Human Rights League (LDDH).
The arrests follow 19 others earlier in October, according to LDDH, following a September 30 attack by FRUD forces on three vehicles belonging to a construction company in the northern district of Tadjourah. "To our knowledge, nothing serious is blamed on them," Ewado said. FRUD chief Mohamed Kadamy claimed the Tadjourah attack, saying the vehicles were carrying supplies of Djibouti army units, according to local media reports.
Recruited among the Afar community of northern Djibouti, the FRUD have been fighting the government since 1991, saying they are defend Afar interests against the Issas, the other large ethnic community in the country. Djibouti, a strategic port the Gulf of Aden with a key position on one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, hosts several foreign military bases, including from the United States, France and Japan.